“Just give me one more rep! One more lap! I can go for another half hour if I just push some more!” These are the words you grow so accustomed to hearing, whether it comes from your internal drive or a coach (mothers and fathers can be grouped in this category as your ‘biggest fans’). So it comes as no surprise that you seek that familiarity once you get to CCAD.

It’s a question that comes up a lot: how you can continue—or begin—your fitness regime. So, being the promoters of self-development that we are, here are some answers.

There are an array of different kinds of physical activities at CCAD that grow once the sun warms up and decides it wants us to be social once again. Also, when you find CCAD lacks something in the extracurricular department, you can turn to Columbus to help you out!

Before you scurry off into the city, you need to know that you have the opportunity at CCAD to create a sports group if you feel that it’s needed. That’s what a few students have done by creating groups such as dodgeball, cycling, yoga, and dance. They get together frequently, and it’s a great way to meet people and establish a brotherhood, sisterhood, or Zenhood with your fellow artists. And yes, I did just apply ‘Zenhood’. The phrase doesn’t exist, but I feel it should, because I feel it’s only right, don’t you? All those in favor say “aye.”

Some groups get together seasonally, as you would expect—wouldn’t it be grand to have cycling in the winter? OK, that was loaded with sarcasm, but it would be an interesting feat for someone to rally a winter cycling team—nudge, nudge.

Dodgeball at YMCA on Long Street

When the weather doesn’t permit the kind of exercise you want to do, you can stay on track by using the gyms that the residence halls are equipped with. If you feel that what you need is a trainer to keep you motivated toward your goal, CCAD has established a relationship with Shape Fitness, a 24-hour gym that gives a 50 percent discount to students enrolled at CCAD. This establishment is right across the street from campus, which is convenient in case you want to take the edge off at any time.

There are a few of you that would rather be out and about interacting with the area, instead of jogging on a treadmill, forced to watch seven-year-old episodes of Jerry Springer (it’s really difficult to run and laugh at the same time). Enter The Scioto Mile. Located in the heart of the city, The Scioto Mile offers an interesting experience by combining the urban spaces you may not be able to go out and see on a regular basis, and the parks that it runs through, connecting them together.

As you leave the boundaries of campus, you’ll find that there is so much to do in Columbus. With events such as marathons, to organized team sports like softball, which can take place as soon as spring begins.

The scenic Scioto Mile

Depending on how religious you are about your fitness, you might not wait until it warms up—I have witnessed people, geared up and running or cycling about in subzero temperatures. And there are some winter running clubs that encourage that sort of behavior (the Capital City Half Marathon lists a ton of them). The athlete in me would love to love exercise that much, but my mind, with its thoughts, has it at bay.

Up Long Street, not too far from campus sits the YMCA. Once you become a member, you’re granted access to their facilities, and have the option of expanding your membership to include packages that they may have going on, like working with a personal trainer to reach a goal.

I was blown away by how much activity goes on in this city. I mean I had a rough idea, but sometimes this four by four block campus can take you in so much so that you forget that there’s life out there too. Check out the city’s Parks & Rec website—you’ll find trials for cycling, running, and hiking as well all manner of programs.

Sakhile Vanqa is a junior majoring in Cinematic Arts who enjoys humor, cycling, and aspires to shoot for National Geographic.

I wasn’t a traditional freshman student. I had done that already. But in some ways, I had to do the freshman, newbie thing all over again. Sure, transferring from another college meant that some first-week things were familiar, but it also meant that I was once again the “new kid” who knew almost no one.

The summer of 2012 didn’t seem to exist. No, that’s not accurate. What I mean to say is I had so much to cover before suddenly moving to CCAD that it seemed to just fly by. My roommate at the time, Nellie, constantly let me know in her own way how much she would miss me, which made my leaving exponentially more difficult toward the end of my time in Savannah.

The U-haul truck was packed, and with a tear-soaked collar and makeup-stained sleeves, I began my journey to Columbus: a city I knew nothing about except that CCAD lay in the heart of it. Before I continue, I have to say that I am not a very big fan of change, and as the days got closer to my leaving, I went on a roller coaster of emotions until I eventually arrived at a state of actualization—or numbing, I wasn’t sure which—that it was happening whether I liked it or not. Introvert tendencies.

Despite it all, I had an idea of what to expect from moving around so much in my life, and I liked to think I had control of everything that was going on. Surrendering is not one of my strong suits either.

I was in touch with Alex during all of this. He was going to be my roommate at CCAD and we bonded all through the summer as soon as we were assigned a room together. ‘Twin Towers’ we called ourselves—we’re both 6’5”. We’d already established that we would have the best room in Schottenstein (Residence Hall), given our shared habits and everything being a foot higher off the ground than it was supposed to be.

Yes—one friend! Knowing who I was going to be living with in advance was comforting since I was moving to a city where I knew nobody. My biggest concern as a 22-year-old was how I was going to be able to function in a dorm predominantly full of 18-year-olds. Not to say that all 18-year-olds act the same.

May I digress to share invaluable information? Beware of where you order take-out. On my first night while unpacking, I ordered the mother of all sandwiches from one of the many establishments whose pamphlets were so thoughtfully dropped off in the lobby. Needless to say, the feeling of sitting on the toilet seat was absent from my life the following three days. Welcome to Columbus!

Alex on the electric guitar and Katie on the didgeridoo

When I finally met Alex in person it was at orientation with his dad. We stood in line for our student IDs and caught up with what we’d been up to since we last spoke. We looked like giant five-year-olds reunited after summer break, discussing the latest movies and shenanigans we got up to. It was awesome having a conversation with someone my height; my neck was ecstatic.

Once we got all the school formalities out of the way, I met Katie, Alex’s girlfriend—friend number two—and we made it over to the place where we would ultimately form our circle of friends: The Litterbox, a gardenscape-esque space outside the Schottenstein Residence Hall where students would meet and hang out.

And this is where I realized I had found people who get my sense of humor. For example, I haven’t called cigarettes ‘cigarettes’ for a few years now, and instead call them ‘pancakes.”

It’s a twist on an Austin Powers quote—50 points to those of you who got that!

As happens with inside jokes, this group “got it” and before long half the smoking population on campus was calling cigarettes ‘pancakes.’ To be honest, I was just relieved I hadn’t said or done anything borderline inappropriate stemming from my social anxiety. I began to wonder when the indefatigably smiling glamor girls would come out in a silent congratulatory dance for me.

Returning students joined us at the litterbox, and we got to know each other, which lead to a cocktail of people from all over talking sometimes until 3 a.m.. You could step outside at 1 a.m. and hear laughter coming from behind the bushes where conversations might be about childhood friends or things that I’m sure would make parents tackle their children to the ground to keep them from saying another word.

It was at the beginning of the school year event that everything came together. The RAs of my floor promoted it so much it seemed like there was nothing better to do in this massive city. Equipped with my tripod and camera, I took my little African self to the quad where all sorts of activities were taking place.

The homesickness for Savannah kicked in that day and I preoccupied myself with picture taking, mingling here and there but nothing too overwhelming. Jeez, emotions are complex and annoying things sometimes. People with an interest in what I was taking pictures for—I didn’t participate in the activities—came up and talked to me for a bit, sincere conversations. I can safely say that by the time school kicked off, I was a solid part of a gang of artists here—talented, funny, eccentric, short(er) people.

The kicker is that all of this happened the week before the fall semester began.

Sakhile Vanqa is a junior majoring in Cinematic Arts who enjoys humor, cycling, and aspires to shoot for National Geographic.

I am currently finishing up the editing of the Edward Buchanan interview. It was a long and exciting journey for this one! Many changes have been made, countless hours of swapping this, swapping that, deleting this, adding that.

Soon will you all see what a great person Edward is and how CCAD played a role in his future.

While we’re on the topic of editing, let me tell you a little about it!

Editing is the most important aspect of the video process. If you just post the raw footage, it is terribly boring, uneventful, and long. An editors job is basically the same job as a storyteller (or a magician). He or she needs to cut down the video and make it a proper pace, put nice music to it, put images and video on top of the video to hide the cuts, etc.

The editor of almost every single documentary and interview cuts the video down to a small amount from hours or even DAYS worth of footage. The viewer doesn’t notice this because of the editors skill at hiding it.

The interviewee comes to secretly respect the editor upon viewing the final product. The interviewee might be a stutterer, might say “uhhh” a lot, might cough here and there, or whatever. The editor will take those out, and make him sound like a gentleman and a scholar.

Not to say everyone does those things when they are interviewed, but you’d be surprised as to how many do.

I would bet a whole lot that those interviews with the president on CNN and what not weren’t just ONE take. Sometimes they are, yes, but everyone makes mistakes, and it’s the media editor’s job to hide that.

Do you watch the news and say “wow, that was edited really well”. Nope.

Do you watch basketball games on tv and say that? Didn’t think so.

I suggest you take a harder look at the editing next time you watch something, it can be really interesting what you’ll catch.

I hope you don’t catch any errors in the Ed interview though. And you won’t, because I edited it.

It's a beautiful thing really. Being able to take hours worth of footage and cut it down to three to five minutes.

I have started the longest part of the process, the editing. While it is the most time consuming, it also my favorite.

It’s a beautiful thing really. Being able to take hours worth of footage and cut it down to three to five minutes. It’s definitely my favorite part. Chad and I decided to stylize the videos and make them artsy and new and fresh. These will be fun to watch.

Edward Buchanan (CCAD '88-'91)

I ‘m excited to release the Ed Buchanan interview within the next couple weeks and show you what an awesome person he is. Before that happens though, I need to present the video to Resource Interactive and see what they think about it.

I love working with them. It’s a great experience. They are the best interactive ad agency in the Midwest, and my brother is there to give advice as part of Resource, so I’ve got that going for me (Caddyshack reference).

Now that the trip to NYC is over and our time there is a memory, I have been reflecting on how this whole journey started.

My involvement with this project happened right as I was getting ready to graduate, which made the last three months incredibly crazy. From figuring out subway routes to deciding which color shirt does not make me look like a giant pumpkin on screen, the process has been an interesting one. Never did I think that in my career I would be sent to New York to interview people—Matt Lauer style.

Last time I was in New York, I was a senior in high school, and I went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. While doing all the tourist things that you normally do in New York, I started to wish that I could have experienced the city on a more cultural level. That is exactly what I wanted this trip to be for Alex and I, an immersion into the NYC art and design community.

Beautiful Street we came across.

I also hoped to get some time to explore the city. As a photographer, I was excited to get some super-sweet shots and capture the texture and beauty of this awesome metropolis.

Having graduated from CCAD with a major in Advertising & Graphic Design and minors in Photography and Copywriting, this trip is what I have spent the last four years working toward. Check out some of my work at www.lifebulbdesign.com, and you will see the things that inspire me and the work that I have created.

The concept for the project began in early March with the idea of heading to different places throughout the world to find CCAD alumni. We wanted to capture their journey, find out what makes them tick, how they picked the path they did, and how CCAD set them up for that success. These questions would drive the interviews and be the main focus of the videos we captured.

Working with Resource Interactive (RI) the CCAD team hatched an idea and figured out a plan. We did some mock interviews and then started to prepare for our interview with 2010 CCAD Fashion Icon Award winner Edward Buchanan, creator of Sansovino 6. While he was in town accepting his award at the 2010 Senior Fashion Show, we got to spend

Times Square

some time with him and find out his journey to the Jay-Oh-Bee.

Edward’s interview went great, and we got some awesome footage. At our last meeting with RI, we reviewed the video that Alex had been spending lots of time editing. It was given a big round of applause and will be the first to be posted in the series.

After this, we began planning for NYC. From the money it takes to get there, to the flights and hotel room, there was a lot of planning that went into making the trip run smoothly. My giant, crazy binder of maps and travel logistics saved us from standing in the middle of Times Square looking like tourists and helped us arrive on time for all of our meetings. The only major problem we had was getting lost in China Town, which was an experience in itself.

When I first started to write these blogs, we were just getting ready to travel. Now, we’re back in Columbus, and the editing process has begun.

Reliving these interviews reminds me of not only the fun we had but also the lessons I learned. Meeting these alumni taught me that in order to get the Jay-Oh-Bee, you have to fail, fail again, but continuously believe that what you are doing has a purpose. This is what makes success.

Today we filmed on a fire escape. We also filmed in a room that looked like something from the set of Mad Men!

The digital lab at BBDO

Our morning started very early when we traveled down to Radio City Music Hall, which is right across the street from BBDO New York. Matter a fact you can see the famous Radio City Marquee from Chris Cole’s office window.

Cole, a 1989 graduate of CCAD and VP at BBDO, sat down with us and gave us the inside scoop into the gears that make a giant advertising firm turn. This is where the Mad Men part come into play. The office spaces of BBDO are littered with famous work that the company has produced—Work for major brands like Hyatt, M&M, Gillette, Mountain Dew, FedEx and much more.

There were multiple floors of creative spaces where hidden gems lay around every corner. From the cozy cool digital lab filled with beanbags and wall graffiti to the amazing gathering space that looks like a flashback of the old central filing room ( think old news clippings hanging on walls and original wooden filing cabinets with the labels still attached), the place rocked. Thanks Roy for the early morning tour.

At home with Majari in Brooklyn

We then traveled to Brooklyn to visit with Manjari Sharma (CCAD class of 2004). We grabbed lunch at a local corner café and then headed to her home. She had just arrived from Review Santa Fe, an event for which 600 photographers from all over the world apply and only 100 get selected. She had boundless amounts of energy and was still very pumped up about all the amazing contacts she had made.

Manjari made Alex tea and then we climbed out onto the fire escape to get a great view of her neighborhood. After seeing her work and some sneak peeks on what she will be up to next we headed to Prospect Park. This park is right next to the Brooklyn public library and is made up of great walking paths and a giant hilly meadow that was filled with people.

Who's shooting who?

She informed us that many great concerts happen here and then her and Alex started to talk about the music that inspires them. This very deep conversation took us all the way back to her place where we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.

That is where I write this blog.

Leaving NY

Our flight got delayed and we are hanging out in the airport for five hours. Ugh. It has been kind of nice just to set down though. We have been running ragged for three days and have gotten some great advice and stories from many talented Alumni. I would personally like to thank all the individuals involved in the project our time in NYC as been an exhilarating experience. Thank you. And, Alex, let’s Fly!

Who else can say they went on a search for a giant chocolate bunny, today?

Any takers?

That’s what I thought.

Well, we did and it was a sweet adventure in uptown NYC that ended with me thinking that my dentist will be disappointed in my sweet tooth.

Why did I go on this delicious journey? It all started this morning when we visited our friend Rosanne Percivalle, winner of the 2010 Alumni Award for Excellence.

Her work, featured throughout the country, may be familiar to you if you have visited Dylan’s Candy Bar and walked up the candy filled resin steps or had your picture taken with the giant chocolate bunny or perhaps visited the Whole Foods Market on Bowery and looked up at the timeline mural she created and designed.

It's alive! (no, not really)

We stopped by her studio/home/office today and she gave us a full tour of her amazing workspace. Her lifelike sculpture of a giant iguana scared me so bad when I first arrived and thought it was real. Finding out it was art, gave my heart a rest.

We then traveled uptown to Central Park and the amazing Apple store that everyone kept telling us about. It was pretty sweet and was a buzz of activity. After our pit stop at the candy bar and filling our souvenirs with all our favorite types of gummy bears we headed to Times Square.

This was Alex’s first experience in the heart of Manhattan. Needless to say I had to pull him out of the street a couple times as he kept trying to get the perfect money shot, before getting hit by a cab.

We then took a jaunt to meet James Alicea a 1992 graduate of CCAD. After traveling on the fastest ear-popping elevator of my life we arrived at Rocawear.

James Alicea at Rocawear

We were taken to the T-Shirt display room, which had an amazing view of downtown and the Statue of Liberty in the distance. The shirt designs on the wall were kickin’. We soon found out that most were the handy work of James and he even shared his sketches with us of some of the original artwork.

It was very interesting to find out that James finds himself most nights sleeping on his couch. Why is this? Well, he never makes it to bed because he is so busy keeping up with all of the companies he works with & inspired by his passion for drawing, typography and cultural relevance he sees no need to sleep.

By the time this goes live, James, Alex & I will be enjoying some great food from Camaradas & enjoying the lovely weather here in NYC.

Well, we made it to New York. Even made good time and did not have to have a water landing in the Hudson River. Got all checked in at our beautiful hotel and were even greeted by King Kong hanging out on our beds. Then the real adventure began.

After a quick lunch at Lindy’s (who claims to have the best cheese cake in the world) and an interesting adventure trying to decode the mass transit subway signage and walking a few 30 blocks through China Town. We made it to our first interview and were warmly greeted by Ming Fay.

Buckeye nut on right was inspired by time spent at CCAD.

Ming Fay, a 1965 Columbus College of Art & Design graduate in industrial design, was eager to tell us his journey and gave us lots of good advice for art students.

First we went to the Lesley Heller gallery where there was a solo exhibition of Ming’s work (it was the closing day of the exhibition).

Seeing his work on display is even more thrilling then it is in pictures. The work sucks you in and takes you to a magical jungle of sculptural art. The turning and twisting pieces are made to mimic brush strokes on a blank canvas. Imaginary and factual plants and seeds are scattered throughout the exhibition. There was even a special buckeye nut that was inspired by his time spent in Ohio. The exhibition was great.

Then he took us to his home studio. Can I just say, WOW. His home is filled with his work and his studio is a mass of inspiration. He showed us many projects that he was working on and some that were already on display. He still references the things he learned at CCAD when it comes to building his more industrial art sculptures.

Ming Fay gives us his words of wisdom.

As Alex and I sat eating frozen grapes with him and his wife and sipping green tea. (Yes, this really happened and it was amazing.) He told us that the best thing about CCAD is that it sets you up with a strong work ethic that will last a life time. Our time spent with Ming Fay and his wife was AMAZING and Alex & I will never forget this experience.

Every journey has a story. One of the most interesting stories that many people have to share is how they ended up finding the right job. From the dream job they imagined has a child. To the path they take to find the right college. Then, the excitement of finding a first job after they have graduated and are entering into the real world.

This process is a journey, for Columbus College of Art & Design graduates this process is exciting. For us this journey is a story that we want to capture. We are working on a project entitled “Journey to the Jay-Oh-Bee” it will end up being a series of video alumni interviews that will be used to help show incoming students that there are some amazing jobs after art school has ended and you have walked or danced (as I did) across the graduation stage.

That is where “we” come in. My friend and fellow CCAD student Alex and I will be in the Big Apple for three days and two nights. What will we be doing? Watch out Matt & Meredith, we are the new news team in town.

First, we will travel to New York City where we will interview, film and experience selected CCAD alumni that have some pretty cool jobs. Then we will return to Columbus where we will edit these interviews into videos that we will share.

Boy, do we have some interesting journeys, to show you. The videos will eventually end up on YouTube and www.ccad.edu so be on the look out.

Having danced across the graduation stage about three weeks ago now, I am on this journey. The process of finding the right job can be exciting and fun, but with that also comes many funny, scary and happy moments and even some big moves to join the creative work force. Finding the right job that will feed your passion is not always easy and many people look for hints and tips to make this process a more smooth adventure. I will make sure I ask these successful CCAD alumni what advice they can give to current students and young professionals that are fresh out of college, like me.

Join us as we set forth on a journey of our own to the Jay-Oh-Bee. Follow our blog posts and tweets as we explore New York through the eyes of five successful artists and designers who have found a Jay-Oh-Bee that ignites their passion. Check our live twitter feed @ 2JayOhBee for our daily adventures into the heart of the Big Apple.